The Wilbur Smith Discussion Forums

so far I love it, I have read 254 pages of it and I love the characters, I reckon this book so far has been as enjoyable as Rivergod for me when I first read that book (my first Wilbur novel) Ben Kazin is an ass kicker, apparently the book will take a step back in time (correct me if i'm misinformed) about people who use to live in a place called Opet (is that a real place?) I love how Wilbur builds relationship between characters...

on part 2 now, Lo is dead so far its a great book I hope part 2 is as good as the 1st part

part 2 is possibly even better than part 1, IMO

John R wrote:part 2 is possibly even better than part 1, IMO

Yep! I'll second that.

Part two has some great bits. I like the way you can relate allot of the part two characters to part one. I like trying to figure out where the bits that they talk about in the second part are in modern day africa, you can find a few of them, especially when you use google earth. He even put great Zimbabwe in there.

I never finished the sunbird
i dont know why the second half really let me down but it was around about the same time as i couldnt get to grips with warlock so maybe Ill try again

part 2 has been great so far, read half way throuhg I'l probably finnish it in a week or 2 so far I love it

finnished it, I feel sorry for Huy


I hate Lannon!!!

I finished reading this magnificent work today. Wow, what an adventure lies within these pages! I thoroughly enjoyed living every minute of it. Out of the two halves, I'd cite the second as my favourite although the modern-day half was certainly captivating and enchanting too. I felt so sad when I finished this I was almost in tears. I felt I had grown to know and love the characters as members of my own family and it took me a while to get back to reality.

Call me crazy, but I feel this book has a very Wizard of Oz (1939 film) feel sometimes. I couldn't help but compare Huy to Ben Kazin, Lannon to Louren and Tanith to Sally as if they were counterparts in the old world and the modern world. This is one book that sits proudly on my shelf and it will definitely experience a second reading in the future. Terrific writing by Wilbur and certainly one of the best standalones and possibly one of his best works. (I'll make up my mind once I've read all of Wilbur's books)

I'm going to take a break from the standalones now and begin on the Courtneys. I have When the Lion Feeds, The Sound of Thunder and A Sparrow Falls sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

I read the Sunbird for the first time in it's abbreviated form in a Readers Digest book and was hooked. I've bought a couple of them in paperback and one in hardcover. I totally agree with Nathan's comments. To me the Sunbird is a magical place and I ache to be there with them, especially in the last scene where they have retreated to their final defensive position. Oh, "what could have been had the gods favored them"! I've read it about 6-7 times and it is my very favorite book of all time. I wish Mr. Smith could make it into a series by itself! God how I love it.

Dave Gabriel
Ocala, Florida

I've been re reading-some of the stand alone novels and I enjoyed this the second time around.

The sunbird is a truly magnificent book about a part of history not widely read about. The most id read about carthage before reading this book was that they were Romes mortal enemy. Reading this book gave me a new perspective on Carthage. WS really ought to write more books on this era. Perhaps a prequel or something set after carthage's defeat at the hands of the romans ( carthage was rebuilt by the romans eventually becoming the 2nd biggest city in the western roman empire). There is high drama to be written about here.

ive just given sunbird another try and again just couldnt get in to the second part

Ada wrote:

John R wrote:part 2 is possibly even better than part 1, IMO

Yep! I'll second that.

I will third it. I absolutely love this book. I was miffed when the first Part ended and the Second Part began but when I finshed the whole book I realized what a great story both parts made together.

Third try and yet again i cant get into the second part of the book, ithink perhaps its too much like the egyptian series( my least faves sorry)i just cant get on with the characters like in the other series .I find particularly with the ballantynes that im not reading it im there and i know how the characters are gonna react to things before they do ,im just not feeling the love with the second part of this one .

I agree, I thought that I enjoyed part two of the book more than part one, but then realized that was only because of how wonderfully part one set up part two.

This was my favorite WS book. I read it again after nearly 30 years, and found it even better the second time.

Hi nebogatoff - last year I read nearly all of WS's books again - most for the third time. I found they all read better and I particularly agree with you on Sunbird. My first read lead me to believe that WS was beginning to enter into the realm of fantasy - something entirely different to the real world of his previous books. But my later readings knocked that thought on the head and like you I really enjoyed it more than the first time round.

For certain Sunbird was my favourite WS standalone that he wrote.Its odd how many of us commented on part one,it seemed out of context and there was nothing about it that reminded me of WS style,in fact I thought that part one of Sunbird was written by someone other than WS.Saying that part 2 of Sunbird was a real thrill to read and I wish there was a continuation of a follow up to it.

Sunbird - # 1 for me for sure

Hmm, I didn't particularly like the sunbird. I've only read it once a long time ago, so maybe I should give it another go one of these days to see what the fuss is about .